


Taking Notes

by BlueRoboKitty



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Dorks in Love, Explicit Language, Fluff, Multi, Unrequited Crush, in love with two people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-16
Updated: 2016-06-16
Packaged: 2018-07-15 11:57:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7221457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueRoboKitty/pseuds/BlueRoboKitty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lance confides in Allura as he sorts out his not-so-secret feelings for Keith.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Taking Notes

**Author's Note:**

> I've headcanoned Lance to be bisexual not just for OTP funtimes but because coming to terms with his identity is something, as a bisexual person myself who has been constantly questioning my identity over the years, that's very important to me. So I wrote this as a kind of exploration of sorts. Also, I wanted to write him interacting with Allura because it's also a cute ship. Rated for language.

There was only one person in this entire castle Lance could talk to, and considering their usual relationship, this was going to be one weird conversation. Truth be told, he had little choice in the matter. He just really needed to get this off his chest, and he couldn’t tell the other Paladins, _especially_ that Keith, stupid, stupid, _stupid_ Keith. How could a person be so… so _dense?_

Ignoring the pot calling the kettle black here, Lance tried to remember the directions Coran had given him. Who knew the castle had a _library?_ Not that he had been actively looking for it ever since he arrived here. He liked reading well enough, but he wasn’t a big fan of libraries, especially those run by angry old ladies covered in cat hair who were constantly shushing him no matter how quiet he struggled to be. Which was quite a feat for him, one would think they’d be more appreciative of him trying.

“Hello?” he called out as he peered around the doorway, his voice echoing in the colossal room. Rows and rows of shelves stretched high about a hundred feet up to the ceiling filled with –

“Books?”

Those were… books, right? Forgetting his purpose for coming here to begin with, Lance ran inside and tugged the first book his blue eyes fell on from a shelf. “Holy shit,” he breathed. It was a book. It was a freaking _book!_ It had leather covers and paper pages and written in a language he’d never seen before but it was a book all the same! A book just like the ones they had back on Earth, something that never phased out no matter how much advanced technology existed now. Even the pages _smelled_ like the old books of home, the nostalgic sweet breakdown of cellulose and hint of vanilla.

“Hello there, Lance. Is there something I can do for you? …Wha-why are you sniffing a book?”

Lance glanced up when the velvety smooth accent of the Princess caught his attention. “Oh, hey Allura!” he called, quickly putting the book back on the shelf only for it to slip out of his butter fingers to smack onto the polished floor. “I wasn’t sniffin’ it, I mean, maybe I was kind of,” he stuttered a bit as he bent down to pick the book back up and wipe the nonexistent dust off its cover. He felt the heat sizzling slight over his nose.

Princess Allura gave him a gentle smile. Her silver locks cascaded and curled around her face, a rich copper complexion that was a few shades darker than his own with a cooler undertone. Her ears stuck out from within those curls, cutely pointed, just like an elf from those fantasy video games he enjoyed playing on those evenings when neither Hunk nor Pidge were willing to sneak out with him anywhere. Back home, of course. The castle didn’t have video games.

“I was just surprised to see books here,” he explained. She was so pretty. There were too many pretty people running around this castle as far as he was concerned. “I figured you Altean guys would have all your books on like computers and stuff.”

“Ah, yes!” Allura replied enthusiastically, her eyes, a fascinating combination of sky blue irises and magenta pupils, lighting up like twin stars as they did every time someone asked her about her home planet. Lance felt his heart beat a little faster. “We did transfer many of our written works into electric databases long ago. And yet, we still couldn’t bring ourselves to part with our books. Something about the weight of one in your hands and the feel of the paper against your finger before you turn the page.”

“Funny, that’s pretty much how we Earthlings feel about books, too.”

“How utterly fascinating! You know, we Alteans never got a chance to study Earth much. I’ve been in here every chance I could looking for what little information we do have so I can better connect with my Paladins.”

Lance cocked his head. “Why’s that? I mean, why such little info?”

“Well, the Galra destroyed our civilization over ten thousand years ago. That was when your species was barely walking. And you’ve changed so dramatically since then.” She sighed and plopped down in a nearby plush armchair, her skirts floating around her ankles. “Nothing I’ve been reading has anything in common with my observations. It’s just too old.”

She looked distant and forlorn for a few ticks before her mouth turned upward, and she looked at Lance as if remembering he was still in the room. “But I’m sure you didn’t come here to listen to me ramble about boring diplomatic things.”

Lance shifted from one foot to the other in an uncharacteristic display of nerves. “Actually, uh, I did want to talk to you about something.”

Allura lit up like a supernova again, but it quickly vanished when she frowned. “Lance, I’ve told you before, I am not interested in entering a courtship with you,” she said sternly. “At any rate, you are my Paladin and it would be highly inappropriate. Not to mention, we don’t have the time for such frivolities.”

“No, no, no, it’s not about that, promise!”

She gave him a hard stare for a few intense ticks, and then, once again, lit up like a Christmas tree. “Well, then that’s alright. Come sit. Tell me anything that’s on your mind, I’m all ears!”

The plush fabric of the armchair across from her hugged every curve of his body the moment Lance sat down as if he had been embraced by a cloud. For a moment, he wanted to lean back and close his eyes, and the cloud chair carry him away. But Allura was waiting, rather eagerly in fact, for him to speak. He sighed as he leaned forward, folding his hands between his knees and staring down at his dim reflection in the chrome floor.

“Have you ever…” He licked his lip as he paused, tasting a bit of salt and a faint leftover tang from this afternoon’s alien goo lunch. Her eyebrows lifted inquisitively, her inviting smile not wavering, and he charged forward. “Have you ever changed your mind about someone? Like drastically?”

“Drastically?” she echoed.

“I mean, like, one day you realize that your opinion of this person, how you feel about them, you were kind of wrong about them the whole time?”

Allura’s excited smile faded as she said with a deadpan voice, “You’re talking about Keith, aren’t you?”

Lance all but choked on his own spit as he gawked at her. “How did you – !?!”

“Lance. You’re as obvious as a Helthabun’s sharp front teeth when you are attracted to someone, regardless of their gender identification,” she continued dryly. “You look at Keith like you’re attempting to engage a courtship, but whenever you open your mouth, insults come out instead. Why is that, I wonder?” She ended with a genuinely curious tone. “Are insults part of Earthling courtship? Wait, no, you wouldn’t be seeking my counsel if you two were already courting. I take it Keith has no idea of your, um, partiality.”

“That’s because he’s the dumbest guy on Earth! The whole galaxy even! M-maybe the universe!”

“There you go with the insults again.” Allura blinked. “Fascinating. Hang on. I need something to write with.”

She returned several ticks later with something akin to an iPad, and her fingers flew over the screen, making pleasant little _plink-plink_ sounds with every tap. “This is so exciting! I’m so grateful you’ve given me this chance to really learn about Earthling courting habits and rituals!”

Lance raised an eyebrow. “You’re takin’ notes on me?”

“Oh! Is that a problem?”

“No, no. Go ahead. I just don’t think I can contribute much.”

She gave him an encouraging smile. “You’d be surprised. There’s much more to you, Lance, than you realize.”

He blushed hard, but quickly recovered with, “Stick around, babe, you’d be surprised of all _kinds_ of things you can learn about me.”

_“Laaaaaaaaaance.”_

“Kidding, kidding.”

“So go ahead. Tell me why you insult Keith so much even though you seem to be rather fond of him. I have noticed that you two are working better as a team. Your fighting styles are much more complementary. But there still seems to be some rift – “

“He’s _too pretty!”_

She stared. “What?”

Lance jumped to his feet and began to pace wildly in front of Allura like a restless feline pacing around its cage. “He’s pretty! How does a guy get to be that pretty, it’s unfair! And his stupid hair! It’s a _mullet_ , that style went out like two centuries ago! But it looks so _good_ on him! It shouldn’t look good on _anyone what the fuck!?”_ He paused. “Uh… sorry for my French, princess.”

“You weren’t speaking French…?”

“Never mind. He’s… Keith’s just super _frustrating_.” Lance stared at his feet, hands clenching and unclenching. “Pretty hair. Even prettier eyes.” His voice became quiet. “He’s not the first guy I’ve been attracted to, but he’s the first one that hasn’t left my mind. I can’t ignore my attraction this time like I could before. It’s weird. When you’re so sure of who you are, then something – someone – comes along and your whole identity crumbles.”

How many times had he spaced out in class, catching himself thinking about burying his fingers in that stupid, stupid, soft-looking mullet? Why a mullet, anyway?

“He ignored me.”

“Pardon?” Allura was no longer typing. She just watched the teen pilot, waiting patiently for him to continue his thoughts.

“Keith was the top of the class, all cool and aloof, and he completely ignored me. And then when he washed out, forgot me entirely.”

“Ah, I see.” The princess nodded with understanding. “You insult Keith because you believe that’s how you’ll keep his attention. Otherwise, he’ll ignore you. So very, very interesting. Perhaps Earthling courtships aren’t so different from Altean, after all.”

“It doesn’t surprise you?”

“What doesn’t?”

“That I… that I’m bisexual? That I also like guys? As well as girls.”

“Mmm, I’m afraid I’m not too familiar with this term ‘bisexual’. Then again, Altea doesn’t have a strict binary gender system like Earth does. Your gender norms are considerably harsher than ours, at least according to the scant recordings we have, which was why I was so surprised when I learned about Pidge. But, no, it doesn’t surprise me that you like Keith. You strike me as someone who fancies _xharen.”_

“Xhe-what now?”

 _“Xharen._ It’s a term to describe people who are, shall we say, _soft._ You like those with _fairer_ features. Slender build, smooth skin, and Keith is also shorter than you. He possesses _xharen_ characteristics that you tend to find appealing.”

Lance folded his arms across his chest, considering. “I dunno. It’s a bit more complicated than that, I think. And _soft_ isn’t exactly something I would describe Keith as. Like, yeah, he has those things you described, like pretty and stuff. But he’s also very intense. _Very_ intense. And he got into flights back home _all the time._ That’s why he got kicked out of the garrison. The guy has no chill at all.”

“Oh!” Allura gave him a look that was almost downright mischievous. “So then _xharenaka_ are more to your liking.”

“And that is –?”

“Very temperamental _xharen_ with rather disagreeable dispositions _._ In other words, small and angry.”

Oh.

Oh God.

Oh, God, that was his type, wasn’t it? It was true, he had fallen for every girl who had tried to kick his ass upon meeting him. And there had been _a lot_ of them. Sure, he liked sweet girls, too, all girls really, girls were just great in general. But the kickass ones were extra special. Something about their spicy temperaments that made them extra attractive.

And then Keith had come along, cool and confident and far too pretty than a guy should be allowed, with his stupidly soft looking hair and stupidly large eyes with a gorgeous color that seemed closer to violet than blue. He had sat in the back with deceptively long legs propped up against his desk like he didn’t give a shit despite being the class pet and that was just the sexist thing and made Lance question everything he had known about himself. He was only, what, 5’7” or so? The ideal height for a fighter pilot, shorter than Lance by a few inches. Lance lorded that over him every chance he got, and yet he still felt like he’d lost because, God fucking dammit, Keith’s shortness just made him look _cute._

His thoughts of Keith were cut off before he could be dragged down that rabbit hole by Allura’s giggling. A sweet, musical sound, like the tinkling of little chimes within a summer breeze. Her own large eyes gazed at him, with adorable pink beauty marks beneath those long lashes, and he realized with a pleasant start that she and Keith had a lot in common.

“Sorry. You’re blushing. I’ve never seen this side of you, Lance. It’s flattering that you would confide in me something so personal to you.”

“Princess, how old are you?” Lance blurted out.

“Hm?” She blinked, startled by the sudden, off-topic question, and then sat back in thought. “I’m – wait, no. If we don’t account for my cryogenic coma, convert Altean revolutions to Earth’s, carry the two… I’m about twenty-one of your Earth years.”

Lance’s draw dropped. “Are you serious? I thought you were _older!”_

“Older!?” Allura had that look on her face like when they had first met, and she had tossed him to the floor by his ear with her knee in his spine. That was hot.

“No no nononono, I mean, like, mature!” Lance backtracked quickly, waving his hands. “You just seem so _mature!_ You’re only a couple of years older than me, so we’re pretty much the same age. Kind of. Nineteen, twenty-one. Yeah. Close enough.”

“Hm, yes, I can see how that can be quite a shock.”

Ouch. Lance knew a passive-aggressive insult when he heard one, having given plenty himself.

“Back to the subject, do you plan on telling Keith your feelings? I think that may clear the air between the two of you.”

He hesitated. “I… I think that might make things worse, actually. If he rejects me, well, Earthlings don’t take rejection well.”

Allura paused in her pad plinking, regarding Lance with a concerned expression. “But if you keep all this to yourself, then can’t that also cause problems?”

That was true, too.

“Tell you what. Since this is a great insight and social experiment to Earth’s social customs, mind if I help you with your little dilemma? Perhaps together we can determine Keith’s feelings before you reveal your own. You know, I actually had this very situation happen when I was younger. A maid and one of my mother’s guards. It was quite thrilling. Like I said before, it looks as if Earth and Altea aren’t too different when it comes to courtship.”

Lance smiled at her in appreciation. “Sure! That would be really cool of you.”

Allura squealed. Actually, _squealed._ It was the downright _girliest_ thing Lance had ever seen her do. She then coughed into her fist and reverted to her usual regal appearance, but too late, he saw it, saw how _adorable_ she could actually be and wow, his heart was beating so fast now.

Keith was too pretty, and Allura was too cute.

Lance was in trouble.

 


End file.
